Learning Continuum

I t was early Sunday morning
and a light snow swirled
, around the cars parked outside
Temple Israel in West Bloom-
field.
In the sanctuary, with the cold
winter light softened by ribbons
of stained glass, hundreds of Jew-
ish educators gathered for the
fourth annual NIRIM conference
intently watched an interpretive
performance by dance midrash
specialist Nancy Mellan.
E
_,,,
Beth Greenapple of the Jewish
g Community Center strummed
her guitar and sang while ad-
in ministrators, teachers and even
g'-, students shared the stage with
Ms. Mellan, who wrote an origi-
nal piece that focused on Hav-
dalah, the concluding prayer on
Shabbat and festivals. She
whirled around the bimah like a
sprite, surrounded by the flick-
ering Havdalah candles held up
by her fellow dancers.
Then it was down to the busi-
ness of learning.
For the first time, the Agency
for Jewish Education (AJE), the
conference sponsor, included 15
text studies in the day's roster of
events. Rabbi Daniel Nevins of
Adat Shalom Synagogue, Rabbi
Aaron Bergman of Beth Abraham
Hillel Moses, Rabbi Joshua Ben-
nett of Temple Israel, Susann
Codish of Or Chadash, Rabbi El-
liot Pachter of Congregation B'nai

On Sunday, 350 Jewish educators gathered
for the AJE's annual NIRIM conference to learn
new and old tricks.

JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER

Nancy Mellan and friends perform at the NIRIM conference.

Moshe, Rabbi Debrah Cohen of
the AJE's Jewish Experiences for
Families program and others
delved into the four distinctions
evoked in the Havdalah prayer.
Rabbi Cohen's classroom filled
quickly.
Using texts from Genesis, Exo-
dus and Deuteronomy, she and the
15 or so teachers engaged in live-
ly discussion of the distinction be-
tween the sacred and the ordinary
and the linguistic differences be-
tween the texts.
"Rabbi Cohen reminded me
that there are wonderful study
and learning experiences for the
children and for us just by looking
at the way words are used in the
Torah," said Ben Amber, a reli-
gious-school teacher at Kehillat
Israel in Lansing.
A first-timer at NIRIM, Mr.
Amber attended two of the 45
workshops that filled the re-
mainder of the day, picking up tips
from Rabbi Michael Moskowitz of
Temple Shir Shalom on connect-
ing students with Jewish histori-
cal and social experiences.
Shir Shalom Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz's workshop on spiritu-
ality in the classroom, Mr. Amber
said, was "incredible."
He plans to return for the next
NIRIM conference.
"It was fabulous. What a won-
derful resource. Maybe Detroiters
take for granted what they have.

It was hard to go back to my day
job," he said.
Sandy Zipser, a kindergarten
teacher at B'nai Moshe who has
attended all previous NIRIM con-
ferences, said Sunday's provided
her with a "little boost, a little cul-
tural awakening."
She attended Rabbi Cohen's
text study class and workshops on
teaching prayer to young children
by Aviva Panush and teaching
Hebrew by Anita Naftaly.
"I need more knowledge of He-
brew, so the classes I tried dealt
with that. I got many new ideas,"
Ms. Zipser said.
Ms. Zipser was among the nine
members of the maayan tefillah
educators troupe that served as
"extras" in Ms. Mellan's dance per-
formance.
Conference coordinator Shawn
Locke of AJE said Havdalah was
chosen for this year's NIRIM con-
ference to get teachers to think
about the theme of creating anew
each week.
Opening the conference with a
performance rather than a
keynote speaker was meant to in-
volve participants aesthetically
and to get them to think about
new ways of engaging their stu-
dents in learning.
"I think the opening program
created an atmosphere for the
whole conference," Ms. Locke
said. ❑

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